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mirror, mirror on the wall ... what (toolsets) makes the prettiest interface of all ?
#1

[eluser]mpc[/eluser]
I was wondering what (toolset) makes those really fancy interfaces? ... e.g. on the TV network sites etc. ... that have the fancy, glossy look, pull-down menus, pop-up tips etc.
#2

[eluser]Colin Williams[/eluser]
1.) The gradient tool (or layer style) in Photoshop (or Fireworks) is responsible for the gloss.
2.) CSS applies the glossy images to the html
3.) JavaScript (possibly empowered by a library like jQuery or Prototype or YUI) makes things behave like dropdowns, popups etc.
#3

[eluser]mpc[/eluser]
thanks, Colin. I was wondering what toolsets, I needed to read up on - to achieve that 'professional' look on a website. Those good looking sites are becoming more common ... and, I suspect, expected.

Unfortunately, Adobe Fireworks CS4 is pretty dear ($299) plus upgrades every 6 - 12 months ... tough to justify unless a client is paying/demanding it ... bringing up the old chicken and egg question of buying (to learn) prior to having a client to pay for it. ;-)
#4

[eluser]Colin Williams[/eluser]
$300 is tough to justify as an expense? That's what, 3 - 5 hours of billable work? I guess you have a few options. You can start with a 30-day trial of whatever Adobe software you choose, and just quote in those extra hours to cover part or all of the expense. So, you have 30 days to finish the project until the license runs up, at which point you should have collected at least half of the total bill, which you can put toward purchasing the license.

The other option is to use The Gimp, open-source photo-editing/digital-art software.
#5

[eluser]Randy Casburn[/eluser]
@mpc - hey mpc - do you have Office 2007? or are you a student that can get it for free or really really cheap?

If so, you don't need the Adobe stuff.

Let me know, and I'll share the secret.

Randy
#6

[eluser]mpc[/eluser]
[quote author="Randy Casburn" date="1223515790"]@mpc - hey mpc - do you have Office 2007? [/quote]

... sure, Randy
#7

[eluser]mpc[/eluser]
[quote author="Colin Williams" date="1223514514"]$300 is tough to justify as an expense? That's what, 3 - 5 hours of billable work? [/quote]

$60 - $100/hour? You must be working in New York, Colin ? :cheese:
#8

[eluser]mpc[/eluser]
[quote author="Colin Williams" date="1223511976"]
3.) JavaScript (possibly empowered by a library like jQuery or Prototype or YUI) makes things behave like dropdowns, popups etc.[/quote]

Colin: Do you find that JavaScript (and those mentioned libraries) play 'nicely' with PHP and CodeIgniter?
#9

[eluser]Randy Casburn[/eluser]
[quote author="mpc" date="1223518239"][quote author="Randy Casburn" date="1223515790"]@mpc - hey mpc - do you have Office 2007? [/quote]

... sure, Randy[/quote]

Step-by-step on the image. Done with nothing by PowerPoint 2007.

Randy
#10

[eluser]Pascal Kriete[/eluser]
Any javascript will play nicely with any backend. Heck, it plays nicely with pure html.

Think of it as frontend vs backend. They're two parts - the only time they communicate are async requests. And those look like a browser one way and like html (or xml or json) the other way.




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