tom kepler, graphic designer

for the geeks (or aspiring geeks)

a short list of usability resources

stevekrug.com: the real guru of simple web usability. Read his book— it will tell you everything you need to know.
graphpaper.com: I just discovered this one, and it's very interesting (if, like me, you're interested in totally dissecting mostly satisfactory interfaces).
humanized.com: not much there yet, but it's a Chicago startup that puts humane usability first. I check this site almost every day to see if they've released anything new.
useit.com: Jakob Neilsen is the self-titled guru of web usability. He makes a lot of good points and (in my opinion) as many questionable ones, but he's the dude when it comes to the face of web usability.

a short list of good books:

jef raskin: the humane interface
steve krug: don't make me think
brenda laurel (editor): art of computer-human interface design
robert bringhurst: the elements of typographic style
dave shea, molly holzschlag: the zen of css design
eric meyer: eric meyer on css
lou rosenfield: information architecture for the world wide web
jakob neilsen: web usability

flash vs. not

Macromedia Flash is all the rage—and it's aptly named. It's flashy—it gives designers a lot of ducky tools to create animations, transitions, interfaces, and other great features for sites. However, it can still cause problems, both by convoluting the basic message and by creating mysterious errors in browsers. I will use Flash when the situation demands it, but I believe that most messages can be presented without using all the bells and whistles. Information is information—if it moves or not is often a distraction from its pure conveyance.

dreamweaver (et al) vs. custom coding

There are tools that allow web designers to create very dynamic, interesting designs without full understanding of the code behind it—the biggie is Macromedia Dreamweaver. I have Dreamweaver, but don't generally use it. I find that writing my own code from scratch simply serves the information better. While it may limit the creative process at times (let's face it, drag-and-drop design is pretty handy), avoiding graphic tools like Dreamweaver puts the focus back on the message at hand. I use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) religiously, as does Dreamweaver, but I find that I present data more relevantly if I apply design to the underlying structure instead of vice-versa. Strange from a designer, I know. But the point of a website is to efficiently place information into a visitor's focus. Too much visual noise, as is often the result when you can crank it out effortlessly, only detracts from this crucial goal.

typography

Maybe it's my background in print, but I really like good type treatment. Readable type is invaluable. Print gives me no end of options, and the Web gives me very few. But I do my best to respect them both.

haven't had enough?

If you still have the capacity for more of my piffle, please come poke around at my blog: Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion. I can't guarantee it won't be personal, political, or highly opinionated, but I offer it up as more reading if you're bored and have already read the rest of the Web.