Your blog needs a name that is short, memorable, and tells people what you’re all about, but coming up with a name that’s available can be a challenge. You might find a blog name that’s available, but the matching domain [...]

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The post How to Find the Perfect Name for Your Blog first appeared on CSS Reset.

Digital trading services have transformed the investment landscape for stocks, commodities, and other financial instruments. But do you know what’s true and what’s not about these services? Let’s dive into the common misconceptions surrounding digital trading and distinguish between myth [...]

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The post What Are the Common Misconceptions about Digital Trading Services? first appeared on CSS Reset.

The logistics industry has experienced a meaningful changeover with the appearance of the Internet of Things (IoT). By enabling real-time data collection and analysis, IoT has supplied new visibility into logistics operations. This raised visibility is key for keeping up [...]

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The post The Internet of Things in Logistics: Real-Time Data for Enhanced Visibility first appeared on CSS Reset.

The world of online casinos is now more competitive than ever before. This forces online casinos to push the limits of technology and come up with unique designs focused on improving the user experience.

Since most of such platforms offer similar [...]

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The post How CSS Enhances User Experience in Online Gaming first appeared on CSS Reset.

Scrum is an agile project management framework that relies on collaboration between the product owner, scrum master, and development team. One of the key artifacts in Scrum is the product backlog, which contains a prioritized list of features, requirements, and [...]

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The post Collaborative Backlog Management in Scrum first appeared on CSS Reset.

While WordPress is generally user-friendly, some common errors can occur. Fortunately, your WordPress issue has likely been reported and resolved already. We all appreciate WordPress, but it can sometimes be frustrating. It’s unpleasant when our site crashes due to the [...]

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The post 5 Common WordPress Issues and How to Fix Them first appeared on CSS Reset.

Building financial tools has never been more accessible. With the rise of web technologies, developers can create powerful market analyzers that are quick, responsive, and packed with features that were previously only available to large trading platforms. Here, we outline [...]

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The post Leveraging Automated Market Analyzers: A Developer’s Guide to Building Financial Tools with Web Technologies first appeared on CSS Reset.

Welcome back to another icon dedicated tutorial, in which we’re going to learn how to quickly create a computer settings icon inside of Figma, using nothing more than a couple of basic geometric shapes. So, assuming you already have the software up and running let’s jump straight into it! Tutorial Details: Computer Settings Icon Program: […]

The post How to Create a Computer Settings Icon appeared first on Vectips.

In today’s tutorial, we’re going to take a quick look behind the process of creating a security icon, and see how we can take some simple shapes and turn them into a finished usable product. So, assuming you already have Figma running in the background, let’s jump straight into it! Tutorial Details: Security Icon Program: […]

The post How to Create a Security Icon appeared first on Vectips.

In this tutorial we’ll be making a nautical scene with underwater elements. We’ll be using basic geometric shapes as well as creating our own brushes and doing some freehand drawing to create a unique ocean design. Let’s get started! Tutorial Details Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – CC Difficulty: Intermediate Topics Covered: Shape Building, Paintbrush Tool, […]

The post Create a Stylized Ocean Design in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Vectips.

Welcome back to another Figma based tutorial, in which we’re going to take a quick look behind the process of creating a phone widget app icon, using nothing more than a couple of basic geometric shapes. So, assuming you already have the software up and running let’s jump straight into it! Tutorial Details: Phone Widget […]

The post How to Create a Phone Widget App Icon in Figma appeared first on Vectips.

Hey, welcome back to another icon tutorial, in which we’re going to explore how to create a messaging app icon in Figma, using nothing more than a couple of basic geometric shapes, that we’re going to adjust here and there. Tutorial Details: Messaging App Icon Program: Figma Difficulty: Beginner Topics Covered: Compositional Construction, Shape Alignment, […]

The post How to Create a Messaging App Icon in Figma appeared first on Vectips.

Follow this tutorial to create a trendy flat teacup logotype in Adobe Illustrator! We’ll be using and modifying basic geometric shapes, working with Align panel, Pathfinder functions and learning simple yet very useful tips and tricks. Let’s get started!   Tutorial details: Program: Adobe Illustrator CC Difficulty: Beginner Topics Covered: Logotype Design, Shape Building, Compositional Skills Estimated […]

The post Design a Flat Teacup Logotype in Adobe Illustrator appeared first on Vectips.

Create a quick and trendy office vector scene with simple line icons. We’ll go through each piece, step by step in no time flat! Tutorial Details: Illustrate an Office Vector in 15 Minutes! Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6 – CC Difficulty: Intermediate Topics Covered: Design Theory, Shape Building, Compositional Skills Estimated Completion Time: 15 Minutes Final Image: […]

The post Build a Trendy Line Icon Office Vector Scene in 15 Minutes! appeared first on Vectips.

In this tutorial we’ll create a delicious  fruit vector design from basic shapes and create a dynamic composition perfect for print and web media alike! Tutorial Details: How to Create a Simple Shape Composition Design Program: Adobe Illustrator CS6 Difficulty: Intermediate Topics Covered: Design Theory, Shape Building, Compositional Skills Estimated Completion Time: 30 Minutes Final […]

The post How to Create a Simple Shape Fruit Vector Design appeared first on Vectips.

We know how much Vectips' readers love a good deal on stock graphics, so that's why we worked with our friends at iStockphoto to bring you this exclusive promo code. Check out this amazing deal...

The post iStock Promo Codes 2021 appeared first on Vectips.

I read this line on a website. “Apple diehard fans would be tempted to buy a live pig if it had the familiar logo branded on its backside”. Ha! I wondered what that might look like, so I tried to draw a picture in my mind and this was the outcome. Jokes aside people, I...

I am pretty excited to bring you the Part 2 of the ongoing Video Series on How to create a Responsive WordPress Theme. As in the previous video, I will be explaining how to code each webpage element using Bootstrap Framework and integrate it into WordPress. You can also download the updated theme files that...

This is the third part of the Video Tutorial Series on How to Create a Responsive WordPress Theme using the Bootstrap Framework. In this part, I have demonstrated how to create a full width parallax image section, a recent blog posts section and a footer. An updated zip file with the related theme files are...

In the world of computer programming, schema can be defined as the overall structure for a database. As per the Schema.org website, Schema markup is the code that you integrate with your website to help the search engines return more informative results for your users. If someone has ever used rich snippets, they’ll understand exactly...

Travelers and backpackers also need nice blogs so here is a new Free WordPress Theme dedicated to travel bloggers – Travel Much? This is a minimalist WordPress blog template that lets you highlight your beautiful holiday pictures and also post your experiences. The theme is built using Bootstrap and can be customized through WordPress’ native...

Sucuri Inc. is a globally recognized authority in all matters related to website security, with specialization in WordPress Security. The Sucuri Security WordPress plugin is free to all WordPress users. It is a security suite meant to complement your existing security posture. It offers its users a set of security features for their website, each...

Improvements in cameras and image filtering have made it easy to create videos with green screen effects from the comfort of your phone (without requiring a real green screen). I use CapCut in the example below, but you’ll find similar functionality within Instagram and any other reputable video creation app. Sometime during 2023, I started […]

WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg has sent the WP community into a frenzy with his latest antics. So what happened? In a surprise to just about everyone, Matt publicly targeted WPEngine, the largest hosting company in the WordPress ecosystem, by claiming [1] they are not contributing back to WordPress in a satisfactory manner and [2] demanding a $32-million […]

The Australian Government has recently announced new English language requirements for Student and Temporary Graduate visa applications. These changes are intended to ensure that international students and graduates have a solid command of the English language to successfully participate in academic and professional settings in Australia. New English Language Requirements Under the updated visa application […]

The post English language requirement tightened for Student and Temporary Graduate Visa Applicants appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

When it comes to immigration and settling down with your significant other in Australia, there are different visa options to consider depending on your circumstances. One of the main options that unmarried couples have to decide between is a Prospective Marriage (subclass 300) or a Partner Visa (offshore subclass 309/100, onshore 820/801). Unlike many countries, […]

The post Prospective Marriage Visa v Partner Visa appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

One of the questions we are asked regularly when a client has a visa refused is – What are my chances of success if I appeal? Statistics would seem to indicate that the Department of Home Affairs (DoHA) often takes an unreasonable approach to their decision making. In the AAT Migration and Refugee Division caseload report […]

The post How to review a migration decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

The Australian government is making a significant update to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT), reflecting its ongoing commitment to maintaining fair wages and conditions for skilled migrants. From 1 July 2024, the TSMIT will increase from $70,000 to $73,150. This change is part of the broader initiatives announced during the Jobs and Skills […]

The post Important Changes to the Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) Effective from 1 July 2024 appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

In an era where remote work continues to thrive, the concept of being a digital nomad has gained significant traction. As boundaries blur and opportunities become global, many adventurous souls seek to combine work with travel, exploring new destinations while maintaining their professional endeavours. Australia, with its stunning landscapes, vibrant cities, and thriving economy, often […]

The post A Digital Nomad’s Guide to Australia on a Subclass 600 Visa appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

On Wednesday 12 June 2024, the Minister for Home Affairs the Hon. Clare O’Neil MP announced changes that will stop certain visa holders being able to make further visa applications onshore. These changes will come into effect on 1 July 2024. The focus of these changes rests on student and other temporary visa holders. As […]

The post Minister for Home Affairs announces changes to onshore visa applications to stop ‘visa hopping’ appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

As we near Citizenship Day on 17 September, Australians have an opportunity to reflect on the meaning and importance of Australian citizenship and the responsibilities and privileges we have as citizens. Australian Citizenship Day was first celebrated in 2001. Every year on this day, Australia welcomes thousands of new citizens in local communities across the […]

The post Becoming an Australian Citizen by Conferral appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

Australia is a nation built on migration, with many citizens tracing their heritage back to different parts of the world. For those born outside Australia to Australian parents, citizenship by descent offers a direct route to becoming an Australian citizen. What is Citizenship by Descent? Citizenship by descent is a way for individuals born outside […]

The post Becoming an Australian Citizen by Descent – A Path for Those Born Abroad appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

When a Temporary Skill Shortage (TSS) visa (subclass 482) is granted by the Department of Home Affairs it come with a mandatory condition, Condition 8107. This condition governs the visa holder’s employment arrangements and ensures that they adhere to the requirements of the visa. While holding a TSS visa the individuals work rights were generally […]

The post If my business sponsors an overseas worker on a Temporary Skill Shortage (482) visa, can they work for another employer? appeared first on Australian Visa Experts.

Winterlichter Palmengarten Jan 2016

Photos from my annual trip to see the christmas lights in the botanical gardens in frankfurt

A design pattern that is currently growing more popular is the fixed position bar at the top of the page. Sometimes the bar stays the same throughout, sometimes the header morphs into a slimmer bar as you scroll down, sometimes a completely new bar appears.

For example, as you scroll down on the New York Times website, the top navigation bar shifts from displaying typical site-wide navigation to article specific controls, showing the title of the article, the share link, the comments link, as well as compressed site-wide links:

At the Forbes website, as the user scrolls down the page a fixed position bar appears at the top promoting links to other articles the reader may find interesting, as well as a drop-down site navigation menu, search and user controls:

While these bars may be useful, they take up vertical space, reducing the reading space the user has chosen for themselves by picking the size of their browser window. Additionally, information displayed on these bars does not do anything to aid the reading of the actual content, making the bar more of a nuisance than help.

An interesting way to solve the issue is to hide the bar when scrolling down, and show it when scrolling up. On mobile interfaces, where space is precious, this technique is used to hide chrome, such as Web browser controls, but it’s also a good pattern to use on the Web. For example, Medium has just updated their new navigation bar. As you scroll down, the bar goes away, but it can be revealed at any time by scrolling up. Here’s what it looks like:

Less annoying than bars that just sit there as you scroll down, and makes the menu easy to access without having to scroll up to the top of the page. Scrolling up won’t necessarily mean the user wants the navigation – they may just be scanning the content – but 100% of the people wanting the navigation will be scrolling up, making it a pretty good compromise.

Update 2014-06-16

For anyone interested in using this design pattern on their own sites, Eduardo Martins Barbosa has created a jQuery plugin that performs much the same way as the bar on Medium, including the subtle effect of revealing the bar at the scrolling speed of the user rather than simply sliding it down upon scrolling up.

Co.Design asked Tobias Frere-Jones of Hoefler & Co. to give his thoughts on Apple’s choice of Helvetica as an interface typeface for the upcoming OS X Yosemite update:

Despite its grand reputation, Helvetica can’t do everything. It works well in big sizes, but it can be really weak in small sizes. Shapes like ‘C’ and ‘S’ curl back into themselves, leaving tight “apertures”–the channels of white between a letter’s interior and exterior. So each shape halts the eye again and again, rather than ushering it along the line. The lowercase ‘e,’ the most common letter in English and many other languages, takes an especially unobliging form. These and other letters can be a pixel away from being some other letter, and we’re left to deal with flickers of doubt as we read.

This reminds me of what Erik Spiekerman wrote about Helvetica:

[Helvetica] really wasn’t designed for small sizes on screens. Words like milliliter can be very difficult to decipher. If you ever had to read or write a password with 1, i, l or I, you know the problem.

Still, I wouldn’t keep Lucida Grande for HiDPI displays. With a 2× resolution jump (4× pixels) pixel fitting becomes less of an issue, and pixel optimized typefaces like Lucida Grande begin to look crude in comparison with typefaces made primarily for print. Legibility obviously still matters just as much, but the choice need no longer be bound to fonts optimized for low resolution displays.

Min Ming Lo analyzes the various designs of the share icon currently in use. He concludes:

The best icon is not the one that is the simplest, nor the one that makes the most sense. Instead, the best icon is one with which most users are already familiar. An effective icon is one that requires minimum effort for the user to translate that symbol to an action.

I think part of the problem with coming up with a good share icon is that the concept of sharing physical items doesn’t directly map onto the concept of sharing digital resources, which oftentimes simply involves posting a link on a public feed. The latter is closer to broadcasting a message rather than dividing up a resource or experiencing a thing simultaneously. Icons with more specificity – e.g. a tweet icon, a Facebook like icon – are unambiguous; they relate directly to a service and the kind of interaction that service allows. Trying to cover them all with an umbrella of “sharing” is difficult, if not impossible, to do clearly.

The problem doesn’t lie in the icon, but in the vagueness of what it represents. For this reason I think Apple’s icon resembling an upload action is probably the best choice because what it represents is not so much sharing but putting the content somewhere else. Whether the full file is uploaded or just the link is given doesn’t really matter, what matters is that the thing in question is transmitted somewhere. It’s also worth considering whether the fight for an icon-only button is worth it, and that it may not be easier and better to just use the words “share” to describe the action. There’s a reason why the stop sign just says “STOP” – you can represent it with something else, but the negative effect on clarity is just not worth it.

Joel Unger approaches the blurry, semi-transparent window aesthetic, recently introduced in iOS7 and now making its way to OS X Yosemite, from the standpoint of evolutionary biology. He argues that the reasons for this latest trend, as well as other trends, are: 1) the visual effect is relatively rare, and 2) the effect is expensive to achieve (in this case expensive in terms of graphics processing power). Both of these go hand in hand given that what is expensive to achieve is probably also going to be rare, at least for the period it still remains expensive. While these two things are initially the differentiator for the trendsetter, they will inevitably be mimicked by others, resulting in a design trend.

Curt Arledge ran a user test to find out whether hollow icons perform any different to solid icons. Hollow icons are an icon aesthetic popularized by iOS7 – icons that are composed of thin lines rather than filled in shapes. It was previously theorized that this icon style required more cognitive processing, and thus would perform worse than typical solid icons.

Arledge found no significant variation between the icon styles. One combination performed worse than others: white hollow icons on a black background. Others performed similarly, irrespective of whether the icon was on a white or black background. What seemed to matter most is not the style itself but how meaningful the design of the icon itself is. For example, a filled in speech bubble is less recognizable than a hollow one because a speech bubble is something that is often depicted as an outline. On the other hand, an outline doesn’t add anything to the icon of a cloud, so a solid shape performed better in that case. Arledge also found that the lock icon performed the worst. Looking at the lock icon used in the test one could guess why: the thing has no keyhole, and so looks just as much as a shopping bag as it does a lock. Adding a keyhole would likely provide enough of a clue to dispel the confusion. The takeaway here is that the style doesn’t really matter – at least not enough to make a significant difference. What matters is how well the icon represents its object. If the icon is good, then it will work whether or not it is implemented as a solid shape or as an outline.

A rolling stone gathers no moss.¹

Publilius Syrus

When software in a particular category stops rapidly evolving and its interface begins to develop along a set of accepted patterns, designers begin to decorate. Decoration is a luxury, it is something you can only afford to do once the functionality of the thing you are working on has been implemented to a high degree. It is in the period of gradual evolution and established interaction norms that designers begin to decorate, begin to focus on small aesthetic details for the visual experience alone. Prolonged times of slow evolution lead to decorative excess. Unable to differentiate software on the level of how it works, developers try to push it ahead on the level of how it looks. When the buttons in all the apps are the same, when the controls all appear in about the same place, when all the interfaces are laid out in a similar fashion, designers begin to differentiate their work by changing the appearance of the interface rather than its function or its structure. The interface begins to gather decorative moss.

The recent minimalist trends in software design – Metro, flat, iOS7, Material – are attempts to scrape away the moss without a radical alteration in the underlying function. It is a reaction to the friction felt between the old stratum of software that has cemented its implementation and thus could afford to wear a rich visual coat, and a new stratum of software that yearns for a radically different approach to interface design. The old and the new cannot co-exist in harmony because the appearance of the two look nothing alike. The layers of visual excess painted over old software apps – e.g. skeuomorphic visuals, rich textures, reflection effects, etc – became baggage to designers who wished to develop something new, for example, using animation to help differentiate between the different states of the app and create a more fluid experience. If you wish to move content around, scale things, change colors, morph one element from one into another, all the superfluous visuals like gloss and textures simply get in the way. Minimalist design makes animation simpler.

The old paint was scraped away not for the sake of a minimalist style, but to allow the designer to create a new kind of experience, an experience where the content making up the interface would be more alive and more dynamic than ever. Buttons morph into panes, panels bounce back and forth to reflect the speed of the finger used to pull them across the glass screen, bits of content fly from place to place signifying a change in state or context, icons move or change shape, and everything gently slides in or fade out as you navigate around the digital canvas. Without the baggage of skeuomorphic visuals, rich textures or decorative styles, the designer can now experiment with motion, can begin to craft a new kind of visual experience from the content itself.

1. The saying has two interpretations. In one, moss is seen as a sign of stagnation. If you don’t act, if you don’t keep moving, you will begin to rust away. In another, moss is seen as something desirable. If you keep changing projects, if you keep losing focus, you will never be able to build up anything worthwhile. I think the duality of the message is quite fitting for the analogy in the post. Excessive decoration is bad design, it is a distraction that adds unnecessary baggage to our work, but decoration is also beautiful, something that enhances the experience of people using our work. Decoration is not in itself good or bad, just as design is neither good or bad – it is how it is implemented that makes all the difference.

Paul Stamatiou on the role of motion in modern design:

Times are changing. Things like page transitions will still exist but involve more of the elements on each page. You’ll begin choreographing. In the next few years consideration for motion will be required to be a good citizen of your desktop/mobile/wearable/auto/couch platform. It will be an expected part of the design process just like people will begin to expect this level of activity and character in software.

Motion is becoming an essential component of design, and with the recent transition to a minimalist aesthetic across platforms animating the interface has become a whole lot simpler. With the advent of solid CSS animation support and speedy animation frameworks like Velocity.js I expect Web design to move in this direction as well.

Delphine Joly Pujol est l’âme poétique et inspirée qui se cache derrière OcciD Créations. Issue du milieu de la biologie, dont elle emprunte le vocabulaire pour intituler ses collections, l’artiste est passionnée de céramique depuis 15 ans. Fascinée par la naissance d’une pièce à partir des quatre éléments que sont l’eau, la terre, l’air et […]

Le Prix Picto pour la photographie de mode 2022 a dévoilé ses lauréats : Christopher Barraja remporte le Grand Prix, Camille Brasselet le deuxième et la dotation le19M et Antoine Henault le troisième prix ainsi que la dotation Filippo Roversi. La cérémonie de remise des prix a eu lieu le mardi 19 avril au Palais […]

Mademoiselle Salty est une marque née dans l’esprit de Marion Ferrari, lors d’une année de vie en Indonésie. L’équipe derrière elle, liée par une passion de l’océan, du surf, des voyages, des bijoux et de la culture indonésienne, propose des bagues, colliers ou encore des bracelets et accessoires fabriqués à la main. Ces derniers sont […]