The P2H.com blog

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Wikipedia defines Web typography as anything that “refers to the use of fonts on the Web.” The article explains that web browsers controlled the look of fonts and styles until 1995, when Netscape introduced the <font> tag in HTML 2. Now most browsers automatically download fonts and designers have greater freedom to design with type on the web.

Every designer has his or her own method for integrating text in to websites. Some designers do it with their end users in mind and make their text easy to read. Other designers opt to use small text or unreadable fonts because of other design constraints. Personally I would rather not include text than have it unreadable.  Learning the following web typography tips and integrating them into your sites you will be able to layout your copy like an expert. All of the tips are very easy to use and easier to implement. The hardest part is remembering to use them. Read More

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PSD2HTML fans, we’re pleased to offer you a fantastic deal on our Basic Package for a limited time – only $99!  If you are looking to convert your web design into pure W3C Valid XHTML/CSS, you’ve come to the right place.  Hurry and take advantage of this offer to convert your website into a package that includes key options such as:

• Cross-browser/platform compatibility
• W3C validated markup
• Table-less coding

The first page is only $99, each additional page is only $49.  Delivery time is 3 business days for the first page and only 1 day per additional page.  And, of course, we always include our top-notch customer service – we’ll guide you through the whole process.

If you’re interested in this promotional offer, click here for all the details and order today. The offer expires August 31, 2010, so act quickly before it’s too late!

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Did you know that there are hundreds (or even thousands) of Photoshop tutorial websites?  These sites create and host step-by-step Photoshop tutorials and make PSD files available to aid your learning process.

Here we highlight four websites that are wonderful PSD tutorial resources. We will take a look at what each website has to offer and review a few of their best tutorials.  Some designers use these sites for inspiration and others use them to learn something new.  We will be looking at PSD Vault, NaldzGraphics, PSDLearning, and Tutorial9. Read More

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The term “Eye Tracking Study” can be used to describe any type of study that examines how the participants’ eyes work in relation to their activities. When you first look at a piece of media, your eyes are drawn to a specific point and will then trail off in a certain direction. Marketing departments use this information to plan their next deployment accordingly. Scientists can use this information to determine the best placement of highway signs or to determine how well you drive. In each of these different situations different equipment is used.

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Although some people may have lightning fast high speed fiber connections to the Internet, the majority of users are still using slower connections such as DSL, so people designing for the web need to keep both sets of users in mind.

If you post a 3200×2400 pixel image that weighs in at eight megabytes to a website or blog your readers will not view the large image in their browser properly. They will curse you if they are reading your content on a mobile device and might mock and make fun of you when they are reading your site on their desktop. You are using up more server side disk space then necessary and are preventing return visitors to your website.

So how do we shrink images down for the web? What sizes are appropriate and what do we do if we want people to have the option of downloading the full sized image? Read More

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What do most people think of when they hear the word portfolio? Most people see a portfolio as a big folder that art students carry around with samples of their work. This was the standard method of showing off your work in the not-so-distant past, before web design was an actual profession.  If you work in web design now, how do you display your work to potential clients or employers?

If you are a web designer or any other type of online developer you need to have your content on the web at all times. You also need to present your work to new people in an innovative and refreshing way. After all, you are a web designer and you want to be on the cutting edge.  Several components go into a successful web portfolio and we will take a look at each of them and show you examples.

The first thing that you will need to decide on is your site’s theme. You can choose something outrageous or something safe. Keep to your theme while designing your portfolio website. Your site should represent you as a designer and a person. If you design in Flash your site should be in Flash. If you are a web developer then your site should reflect that. Once you have some ideas in our head, choose your platform. The platform is how you will display your website online. Some people like to use WordPress and others like to build the site from scratch themselves. If you are a developer as well as a designer, of course building your own site is a better idea as it shows that you are a competent developer. Read More

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In the world of web and graphic design, color is a very important factor. The colors you choose for your website will set the tone for the site. Bright happy colors can make users feel happy and want to express themselves whereas dark dreary colors might make that same user pass your site by. Some companies build a color into their brand like The Home Depot and their orange logo, or like IBM aka “Big Blue.” These companies know the importance of color and the psychological effects that it has on the human mind. Any way you look at it, color is a very important factor in design. Being in the world of IT for more than a decade means that I have had my share of projects where I had to design something or at least choose the color scheme for my application.

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Every month more than 190 million individuals and professionals use Twitter. In just 4 years Twitter has become the most used micro-blogging service with more than 2 billion (yes, billion with a “b”!) tweets per month.  You might be using Twitter for personal purposes to network and interact with other individuals who share the same interests as you, or you may have your own business and website, and you’re using twitter to direct traffic to your website, promote your blog posts and reinforce your existing professional relationships.  Regardless of whether you’re building a personal or business brand, creating consistency in all your marketing materials is a must-do to build a strong online presence.

So why not add a personalized touch to your Twitter page in a way that reflects your personal or brand personality?
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Are you a graphic designer looking for either inspiration for a project or help from your peers on how to do specific tasks? Then you are probably looking for some of the top graphic design blogs. We will show you four great graphic design blogs and tell you what information or resources they have for you.

These sites are also in no particular order and they all contain unique information as well as some overlapping information. We are also always on the lookout for the latest and greatest sites, so if you know of any that did not make this list please feel free to leave us a comment below.

1st Web Designer

The first site up is http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/ and they have all types of resources with regards to graphic design on the web. Here you will find inspiration, methods, and resources for a wide range of graphic design work. To read only design related posts you can go to their design category using this URL. Below you can see a screenshot of their home page:

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According to NetApplications.com, Google Chrome has reached 7.24% of the world-wide browser market in June 2010 and is the third most popular web browser, behind Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Mozilla’s Firefox. The data indicates that Chrome had more than 70 million active users in May 2010, which is up from 30 million in June 2009. Google Chrome has extensions that help add functionality to the browser, and there are tons for web designers to use for help in designing web sites. Here are 13 Google Chrome extensions that web designers should check out:
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