Now of course, I know URLs and more specifically clean URLs still matter. I would strongly disagree with anyone who thinks otherwise. I am no expert on URL design, but I keep hearing shocking statements like “URLs are for search engines” or “hasbangs are ok, since Google says so.”

WRONG – URLs are for humans

I could see how people think URLs are not important. Ok no, no I couldn’t.

Since these are the days of copying a URL and sharing it with friends on Facebook, circles on Google+, followers on Twitter, contacts by email, chat groups via IM, so maybe the URL has lost a little of it’s luster because of our ever shortening attention spans. And that’s just sad.

Take this blog post for example, where I have control of the URLs. Since I use WordPress, this post could be accessed using a couple URLs:

• Shortlink: http://www.pixelflips.com/?p=961
• Full URL: http://www.pixelflips.com/blog/do-clean-urls-still-matter/

Now in my eyes if a friend or colleague sent me the first URL (shortlink), I would have no idea of what I was about to click on. The second, however, gives a much clearer picture. Pixel what!?? Pixel who!!? Both /blog & /do-clean-urls-still-matter/ clearly indicate that I am about visit a blog and read some idiots thoughts on clean URLs.

Wow, I was able to figure that out just from looking at the URL before deciding to click on anything. Now surely I constructed my URLs to do that for search engines, right?

Oh wait, vanity URLs, huh?

Now if URLs are only for search engines, why in the hell would some of the largest sites on the planet take the time to implement and give me a vanity URL? Hmm, could it be they want the URLs that I share and that get indexed by the search engines to be obvious at a quick glance? Interesting.

Again, I am not expert on URL design but I am aware of numerous debates going on across the web. Right now I am very interested in a few different hashbang debates (see links below). I don’t have a solid answer to this debate, but I do tend to agree that this approach is not ideal.

Do it for your users

The most important asset to any website are the users who visit and revisit your website time and time again. If I haven’t made my stance on clean URLs clear, my last piece of advice would be to just do it for your users. They will thank you in the long run!

If my small example above doesn’t at least make you think, check out some of these interesting reads:

• URL Design by Kyle Neath
• Breaking the Web with hash-bangs by Mike Davies
• JavaScript and URLs by Chris Shiflet
• Dashes vs. Underscores by Matt Cutts
• Does the position of keywords in the URL affect ranking? by Matt Cutts

Thanks for reading!

Reeder not only has a wonderfully designed interface, it’s also available on my iPhone which allows me to stay up to date when I am not in front of a computer. Reeder syncs with Google Reader and keeps all my devices up to date.

If you have been looking for a new feed reader, I would encourage you to check out Reeder for Mac (currently in public beta), iPhone, or iPad

Lighter, lighter and lighter!

As you have probably noticed the site has a much lighter color palette than all other previous versions. I was getting tired of dark, so I decided to switch it up a bit.

While the color scheme is lighter, I also took some time and cleaned up some of the code and style sheets. I am hoping the site will respond a bit faster and be easier to maintain in the future. Now, if I can only get the hang of this blogging thing.

Please feel free to let me know what you think of the new design! I am always open for feedback!!

Thanks for reading!

Besides a few loose ends on the visual side, most everything is complete. However, if you do come across something that is extremely buggy, please let me know.

I hope everyone enjoys the new design and I plan on writing more about this release as soon as I have squared away the last few issues.

Congrats to the Chrome Team and German illustrator Christoph Niemann. I am excited to do a bit more “source viewing” and see what can be learned from the markup and CSS. To check it out head over to www.20thingsilearned.com and learn something about the web and browsers you may not have already known.

Check them out and enjoy.

• Jeremy Keith | The Design of HTML5
• Chris Heilmann | Reasons to be cheerful

The idea behind the project:

There are 32 places in America named Berlin and the objective is to collect true stories about these Berlins in the form of video, text and images. The idea is to create a space for collaborative storytelling, in which participants can share their stories as well as contribute perspective to the stories of others. If all goes well the plan is to pick the 12 most interesting stories and make an episodic feature film!

The Brains

Gabriel & Pati (www.ks12.net) have worked really hard to spread the word, not only locally here in Berlin Germany, but also to as many people as possible in the Berlins throughout the United States. The site and idea for the project, along with their passion and drive are something that is a true inspiration to watch and be involved with.

The Braun

I also had the chance to work with two great developers that did their best to teach me more about programming and how each bit of the site worked while I styled the bits with CSS. A huge amount of props go out to Tom Hartnell (www.thomashartnell.com/) & Gavin Norman (www.stillstream.co.uk) who both whipped the site into submission and are doing things with code that are truly amazing.

I am thrilled that the beta site is up and running and ready for participants to start submitting their stories. I can’t wait to see what gets submitted and I can only imagine how awesome the film will be. It is a really creative idea and one I strongly believe will be a success!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, get over to www.postcardsfromberlin.com to learn more about the project and how to participate! Also make sure to check out this little easter egg, it’s a great little creative bit that we all agreed had to be on the site.

Upfront expectations in other industries, are you nuts?

If I need my car repaired or my house painted, I would never ask a mechanic or a contractor to fix or paint anything before meeting and establishing a plan and budget before work begins. So why does this happen time and time again to web designers??

Now this could fall under the spec work debate but to me it’s a bit more than that. Why is the problem with designers and not so much for other areas of the web?

I could be wrong and it probably happens, but most clients would never ask a developer to build a prototype or ask a SEO to provide keyword research up front with no contract or budget agreed upon. Although within the design sector, it’s no problem asking for a graphic concept, HTML, or CSS up front in order to prove ones skills or to win work. In some cases this happens even before any information or understanding about a company or product is ever discussed or proper research has been done.

It’s based on a lot of misconceptions

Just like a mechanic or paint company, designers work and rely on business to earn a living or pay employees. This is just like any other type of business and includes a lot more than people think. The common misconception is that anyone can do web design and all we do is make things pretty.

Well painters (the canvas type) also make things pretty but I am sure people would never ask them to make one brush stroke up front. Previous works and experience would be the reason for selecting a specific painter for the job, right!? You would never ask a doctor to do a surgery, or a pilot to fly you somewhere without explaining what’s wrong or where you want to go, right? You would also want to know their experience and that they are qualified for the job, right? Would you ask the pilot for a test flight, or the doctor for a test surgery? NO!

This should be the case within the web design industry as well! Our experience, previous work and ability to deliver on time should be what clients are interested in, not how well we can use an image editor with no information or understanding of a their needs. This often causes good designers to look bad and clients to receive work that isn’t top notch according to their specific needs.

I know educating clients and co-workers from the beginning is the way to help solve this issue and a lot of it is due to a misunderstanding of web design as a whole. Educating about spec work also helps, but I thought comparing it to other real life industries would help to point out what people are really asking for, when asking for design work in advance.

I just wanted to touch on that but there are many other areas of misconception so be sure to check out the original article..

Thanks for reading and if you would like to add anything or have something to say, please feel free to leave a comment or contact me.

I thought this would be not only extremely fun, but an awesome opportunity to contribute to the book. The selected designs will be published in the book along with being added to a demonstration website. So I popped open Photoshop with no real idea of what I would do, but after a bit of playing around I came up with a card for the “Shades & Staches Detective Agency”.

Make sure to check out all the selected card designs and look out for the new book!

Great variety of content coverage

The amount of content that is covered by each author in the Smashing book was one of the aspects that pushed me to order. From typography and color to marketing and server set up, there is plenty to keep you well informed and updated on the latest best practices. And the full color pages are clean and well laid out.

Each chapter is written by a different author and I suppose they were chosen because of their expertise in a particular area of web design. Some of the information included may already be somewhat obvious to veteran designers but I found many small tidbits of information that were not only helpful, but were things I previously did not know.

The following are the chapters contained in the pages of the Smashing Book:

• User Interface Design in Modern Web Applications
• The Art and Science of CSS Layouts
• Typography: Rules, Guidelines and Common Mistakes
• Usability Principles for Modern Websites
• The Ultimate Guide to Fantastic Color Usage
• Optimization for Websites
• Design to Sell – Increasing Conversion Rates
• How to turn a site into a Remarkable Brand
• Learning from Experts – Interviews and Insights
• The Smashing Magazine Story.

So as you can see there are a wide variety of areas that are covered throughout the book. I really enjoyed the last two chapters which include interviews with industry leading designers and the story of how Smashing Magazine came to be. To get advice and tips from some of the best designers in the industry was a great addition and the insights were very helpful.

The actual story of Smashing Magazine is amazing and they give readers a peek into how the guys started, how they grew the site, the process of finding content and authors and just how much hard work is put into deliver the massive amount of content on a daily basis.

Unique Packaging

The book arrived in the post and at first glance I thought they had just wrapped the book in some clear plastic wrap and mailed it off. Once I pulled off the packing wrap I figured out the book was actually inside of a box that looks exactly like the book itself. I have ordered my share of design books online and this one was the first to come in such a unique package. Not to mention it will keep the book safe from my two year old which is always good, right?

You should pick up a copy

This book would make a great Christmas gift, but would also be a great self purchase. The authors spent a great deal of time on each of their chapters and the advice is flying at you from the time you open the front cover.

Make sure to visit Smashing Magazine for ordering information.

I hope this review is helpful and please feel free to leave a comment below if you have something to say. Hopefully by using some of the new tips I learned from the book my site will benefit and maybe even load a bit faster!