News : Boagworld Discussion Forum

Thanks to everybody who took the time to complete our survey. We had some great feedback and some cool new ideas. As a result, I am pleased to announce the launch of a new boagworld flickr group.

The estimated time to read this article is 2 minutes

Posted on: Sunday, October 30, 2005

We now have a fully fledge forum for you to check out.

This new group has two purposes:

Grab, upload and comment

Firstly, as you would expect from Flickr, it is intended as a place we can upload screenshots of web sites and comment on them. If you see a site you love, upload it to the group and then share why you think it works. Conversely, if you find a site that sucks, upload that and say why you think it fails. This will be a great way for us to learn together what makes good design. Hell, if you want some feedback on a site you have done, upload that too and let people comment on it.

The lazy man’s forum

Secondly, there was a lot of interest in having a forum where people could discuss the issues raised on boagworld.com. Instead of doing any actual real web design work, I have decided to opt for the very basic discussion board provided with a flickr group. If the board proves popular I will upgrade it to something with more options, but I reckon this will work well to start with.

Check out the new boagworld flickr group now

If you have other ideas about how boagworld.com could be improved or how we could utilise this new flickr group then post your comments.

In the trade these are known as calls to action. Feel free to take your pick!

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Jonas

Great idea, to bad flickr has such horrible forum.
I don’t think you need to upload pictures of websites , why waste space , just give a link!
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Ah but that is where you are wrong Jonas. We need to use screen captures rather than links to new sites because:
A. I want people to be able to easily show work under development that they want comments on.
B. So that you can add notes on the images themselves pointing out the bits that work and dont work. (see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/boagworld/57309293/in/pool-boagworldinspiration/)
As for the forum, I agree Flickr’s is crap but its a simple starting point. There seemed little point of doing anything better until I knew if people would use it.
Jonas Geiregat

I didn’t notice that you’re able to place boxes with comments in the pictures , that’s just awesome.
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Ah, now you see why I wanted to use Flickr ;) See, I am still a genius!
Cindy Lionwoman

Hi Paul,
I’m not sure if I’m putting this question in the right place, but I wanted to ask you how you are doing that neat little thing for your links. When someone hovers over many of your links, a small box comes up with an explanation of the link. I know that the explanation itself is with the TITLE tag within the tag, but what I don’t see if how you are having the nifty little box come up with the black background and the green and white text within that box. How are you doing it? Is it in your CSS page? If so, how is the whole thing coming together?
As you can see I am using this big snow storm that we are having today in Connecticut as a good excuse to play with my computer and in the process give you more work to do in answering all of my dumb questions! ;>)
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Oh Cindy,
if you were subscribed to my noteworthy sites RSS feed (http://feeds.feedburner.com/BoagworldArticles) you would already know the answer. Its a variation of the code found here: http://www.dustindiaz.com/sweet-titles-finalized/
Ross Johnson

I think this is a great idea, I almost always look at other designs / websites for ideas on what works and what not to do.
Jonathon Plasky

hey, I think you should change your music!! :)
http://www.echabi.com Charu

I heard a lot about your site, and was wondering if you and your team can me with a query – For effective SEO, we wanted to include alt tags, however all de images are locked as they are coming from db. Could you suggest a way out?
Thanks a lot!
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

If the images dont have an associated alt tag in the database then there is pretty much nothing you can do. You will have to focus on alternative SEO techniques or expand the DB to include ALT tags.
http://www.guccipoochi.com.au Michael

Hi Paul,
Great pods, great sites, great everything thankyou.
Could you please offer your recommendations on CSS books and or web site/s to help with study? Amazon have a range but the peoples reviews are very mixed. I would like study and implement CSS but have limited $.
Thanks
Michael
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Zeldman’s book is a good introduction to web standards and its history, while Dan Cederholm’s book gives a better practical introduction with hands on examples.
http://www.woodtone.co.uk Ashley Hazelwood

Hey ho,
I’ve just spent the last 4 days listening to your pod casts and have learned more in this short time than i have in 6 years…amazing stuff and very much appreciated!
I’ve been using demo html editors and am fed up with time limitations & restricted features and have decided to bite the bullet and buy a web editor.
I’ve mostly used Hot dog (from sausage software) demo and am pretty comfortable with it and for US$99 it seems very reasonable. I was just wondering if anyone has used this and can comment on it. I have tinkered with dreamweaver in the past and although i don’t remember what it looks/behaves like i know i didn’t like it. So can someone perhaps give me an idea if hot dog would be a good purchase for my needs (very small amature webmaster who’s doing small sites for friends etc). I have never worked with CSS but intend to figure it out and try to use webstandards where appropriate. Any advice would be appreciated – keep up the good work!
cheers,
Ashley
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Hey Ashley,
glad you like the podcasts. I have never used Hot Dog (personally I used the latest version of Dreamweaver) but to be honest it doesnt matter much. I would encourage all web designers to be hand coding in which case all you really need is a text editor. Anything else is just minor enhancements. If you like Hot Dog, use Hot Dog. Thats my advice.
http://www.guccipoochi.com.au michael

Hi Paul,
I agree with Ashley, your podcasts are great and I have also learnt more than I could have ever known and thank you for the CSS book recomendations.
My ? is, I have learnt & built my site with frontpage however I would like to bridge the gap and incorporate into CSS and some standards. I feel that frontpage is restricting me due to its lack of CSS intergration and am finding it hard to understand to create a full CSS site, does Dreamweaver allow for a beginner to learn CSS/standards throught its wysiwyg interface? Should I look at changing to Dreamweaver and if so which ‘collection’ of the Dreamweaver web products should I consider buying? Would it be a big step to convert my thinking towards Dreamweaver from Frontpage? I alread have the Video Collection with Photoshop.
Maybe this could be a subject to cover?
Thanks
PS I would love to see some podvids on how-tos, as a suggestion to your already great podcasts.
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Hi Michael,
I would highly recommend getting your hands on the latest version of Dreamweaver. It doesnt replace hand coding but would certainly be a step in the right direction. As for whether it would be a big step going from frontpage to Dreamweaver, I really couldnt tell you. Its been so long since I have used frontpage I really couldnt say what it is like anymore.
As for video casts… it is certainly something we have considered but I just dont have the time to put something like that together. It would be a lot of additional work and something I couldnt justify from a business perspective without charging for them.
Iain

I’ll be glad when/if you move away from flickr because our corporate firewall blocks it!
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

I am looking at the possibility of moving the whole site to a new content management system that has a built in forum so hopefully one day. Aplogises for the inconvienience!
http://smallgroup.be Greg

Well, i personally use a proboards forum. It works, is free, and there is a database of hacks that let you modify lots of cool stuff.
ps.
Thanks for making the security code easy to read. Some of them can be really hard to understand
Adam Q

Hi, all. i work for a company in NYC . We sell handbags. We have a shop. I now am responsible to start the online division a full blast e-commmerce site. I am now learning the tech. (X)HTML, JavaScript, DOM, Flash… but i think i should get the site done from a pro. but my budget is low and they wanna luanch in sep-oct . I would like any advice you can provide. I love the podcast from big P.. really cool really helpfull but i gotta get this site up and i will be the only one to manage once it is up. I think i can come up with around $15-20 K . Thank You very much . Hit me back if possible Mr. Paul .. Thanks
Adam Q
Mark

Where did the shows go?
I just started listening to your podcast and started by downloading show 1,2 & 3 in iTunes, I have just finished them, great stuff, went to get the next batch and :( They are gone!! :’(
Please bring them back, I want to listen to them.
Bryan Zimmerman

To anyone . . .
I have heard Content Managemet Systems mentioned on this podcast as well as a plethora of other informational sites. I am very confused as to what they are and what their purpose is. I tried googling it, but the sites are more intimidating than the search!
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Bryan
DrunkenFury

I just started listening to your podcasts 2 days ago while at work and I must admit that they are quite good. I am in my senior year here in America and am planning on getting my post graduate degree in Web Design from a university in England (partially because my girlfriend is from England and we are moving back and secondly because the American system is not what I prefer). If you could recommend four books for me to get between now and then what would they be? Love the show. Very good advice and some of the end jokes and bits were quite amusing.
Thanks keep up the good work.
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Hey DrunkenFury ;p
You might want to check out this post:
http://www.boagworld.com/archives/2006/05/book_recommendations.html
A nice little selection for you.
Lisa

RE: WOMEN ON THE PWD COVERS…I don’t accept the response the editor gave to that fellow’s inquiry. I believe they think most web designers are geeky men who don’t have a girlfriend and who drool over a magazine with a sexy woman on the front. OK, maybe there are a few to whom that would apply. But, what about other designers, especially us women? After fifteen years in IT, I’m sick of computer mags pretending to be men’s magazines. I’m as offended by the cover as most guys would be by a half-dressed man massaging a laptop. Ugh! Enough already. Move into the 21st century.
Weston

Hey Paul,
Great show, I look forward to it every week you have turned me into an accessibility freak. Thanks.
What happened to the podcast last week… and so far this week? I haven’t gotten one…
I am going through withdrawals :(
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Weston,
http://www.boagworld.com/archives/2006/08/where_is_the_podcast.html
http://www.theboyles.co.uk Robert

Like the show and listen regularly. Audio quality much improved, but still needs close attention since it is still a bit variable. Try saying “um” and “er” a bit less. As regards the site, I like it but on my 1920×1200 screen it is remarkably narrow! How about a liquid layout?
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Anything else we are doing wrong ;)
http://www.pool-predictions.co.uk/assets/images/test_gradient.jpg John Aspinall

Hi Paul,
Long time listener, first time poster – love the Podcasts, very imformative, keep up the good work!
I really like the cool green gradient backgrounds you use for the headers on this site and Id like to know how to recreate it. I can create both he horiz and ver fade effects OK but am stumped as how youve blended the two together, my version looks like two images stiched together and hence looks crap, check out the link to my image.
Do you you some fiendish Masking technique?
Cheers fellah….John
PS – Im using Fireworks.
http://www.crimsonfox.com.au Russell

You have two gradients going in different directions.
The left slice need to be a solid colour, where as the right slice needs to be a gradient going from the solid colour to white.
Hope this heaps.
http://www.pool-predictions.co.uk/assets/images/test_gradient.jpg John Aspinall

Thanks, but the gradient on the left hand side isnt a solid fill on the green BGs used on this site, the left had side gradient fades to white at the top.
You can see this with the eye, also if you run an eye dropped tool over it changes the colour reference as you move it up for the graphic towards the top…..
Here’s my crap attempt at what Im after…
http://www.pool-predictions.co.uk/assets/images/test_gradient.jpg
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Although its fun to watch you guys work it out I suppose I should put you out of your misery. I use PNG transparency to allow me to overlap a horizontal fade over a vertical one.
John Aspinall

Paul – Could you expand a bit on exactly how to do it? I didnt think you were you suposed to use PNG files on web sites?
http://www.boagworld.com Paul Boag

Sorry John, I dont have time to provide you with a detailed tutorial on using PNGs but I can say there is no reason why you cant use them as long as you do the fix to get them working in IE. If you dont know how to achieve that I suggest you google it. There are loads of good articles out there.
John Aspinall

Thats fair enough, although all I want to know is how to recreate your effect, however! (or is it really complicated?)
Can you just tell me does the horiz gradient layer go on top of the vert gradient layer, or vice versa? And which layer do you adjust the transparency values for – or I am barking up the wrong tree totally!
http://www.theboyles.co.uk Robert Boyle

I assume you use a full width, left aligned background image with a gradient going from solid green at the bottom to white at the top. You then overlay a narrower right aligned PNG with a gradient going from solid white on the right to transparent on the left. This ought to achieve the effect you want.
By the way, Paul, enjoyed the latest podcast and I agree that “beta” is pronounced “beater”.
John Aspinall

Cheers Robert – Thats worked perfect.
http://www.crimsonfox.com.au Russell

lol, I should have looked at what you were trying to acheive rather than just your example. Glad you found an answer.
http://msn.com/ lussigagas

300 is a great movie full of visual effects and graphics which made it different and much better.
Acting was great, director did a wonderful job and chose great actors, full of action, and it is based on a true story.
http://msn.com/ lussigagas

300 is a great movie full of visual effects and graphics which made it different and much better.
Acting was great, director did a wonderful job and chose great actors, full of action, and it is based on a true story.