Here are 3 weird facts about Windows, that nobody can explain :
1. Nobody can create a folder named “Con”.

Try to create anywhere on your hard disk a folder called “Con” (without the quotes). Go to a location on your hard disk, right click, choose “New” and then select “Folder” from the menu that appears. Name the folder “Con” (without quotes) and hit Enter. You’ll see that the folder won’t be named “Con“. It will be “New folder”

2. A text file made with Notepad, with the following content : “Bush hid the facts” (without quotes) won’t display the actual text.

Go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Notepad . Write in Notepad the following text : “Bush hid the facts” (without quotes) then Save the file and exit Notepad. Now go to the text file you created and open it. You’ll see that the text you just wrote and save won’t show.

3. Write in Word this : “=rand(200,99)” (without the quotes) and witness the magic.

Open Microsoft Word and on the first line write : “=rand(200,99)” (without the quotes) and hit Enter. Magic in the making.

A whole load of considerations

Designing grid systems for print is considerably more straight forward than designing grid systems for the web. First off,in print, the designer has a fixed media size - the paper size (or packaging, poster, whatever). Let's say a print designer has designed a magazine. The reader of this magazine can't suddenly increase the font size if they find it difficult to read - well they just move it closer to their eyes I guess. This is just one consideration, there are more but I'm sure you get the point.

So, that's media size. On the web you have other considerations such as the browser, the OS platform, the screen size and the actual devices that web sites can be viewed on, from PDA's and Mobile's to assistive technologies such as screen readers. How do you design a grid for all of this? It's a really good question and I'm not claiming I have the answer.

In an ideal world

We all know about the problems with websites rendering differently across different browsers, platforms, devices etc. But, just for a moment, let's forget about that.

Designing a grid for the web should not be difficult, in fact, it shouldn't be any different from designing a grid for an media. As discussed in the previous parts of the series, you can construct a grid in the same manner for screen as you do for print. Base it on ratios, experiment with form and white space etc. Use pixels as your base measurement and go from there in the knowledge that your design will look exactly the same in every browser. After all, you, the designer, knows best for your reader right? You know they want light grey, 10px verdana with a measure of 600 pixels.

In the real world

Good designers for the web know that the users who use their sites may want different, and know, with the web, they have the power to change things. The designer has lost, to a degree, the ability to control. For a lot of designers (including me), this has been a tough transition. We're taught for years to create the delicate balances of white space, the manicured typography and delicate colour palettes, all designed to create harmonious designs which do their job very well.

Then some short sighted user comes along and increases the text size... and... and... totally breaks your design.

I think you get the idea. We can't be upset when the user wants to change something like the text size. What we can do is design grid systems to adapt to those changes.

Not just columns

Over the past couple of years, coupled with the increase in CSS based sites, we've seen a rise in certain grid configurations which are all based on the amount of columns. 2, 3, 4 column layouts - float this, position that etc. Why, even this site falls into the '750 px, 3 column' category. These grids have quickly become a convention, and for good reason too. They are quick to create, fairly stable across many platforms and don't degrade to the same degree as table based layouts. This is all good. What isn't so good though is the general lack of understanding of grid systems when perhaps the question on most designers lips when they sit down to begin a design is, 'how many columns should I have'. This is not grid system design.

I use website templates on a regular basis because I work as a web designer. I consider them a good time-saving device and my clients are always fully satisfied with my work. I have lately discovered a good money-saving device in my work as well. This is a good opportunity to buy whole packages of website templates paying the price equivalent to the price of a single website template from website templates providers. This service is called website templates membership. Here you buy a package of website templates and the price depends upon the duration how long you can download all the website templates from this resource without limit. This membership service is offered by LayoutsPack.



I signed up at first because I was tempted by a very low price. Then I discovered a lot of advantages for myself. The main one is that it has become easier for me to develop web sites. I take the elements that I need from various website templates and combine them into a nice piece of work. To try out this service I subscribed for three months unlimited download. This is the cheapest package. The membership fee is only $49.95 but it has brought me much, much more. The next time when my membership is over I am not going to grudge the investments and I will buy a 6 month or a 1 year membership.

More Articles On Website Templates Production:
What Restaurant Would YOU Choose?
Mistakes to Avoid Using Web Templates

Will Harris shares some insight on working with designers. We often read about tips for designers by designers, but not tips for clients by clients.

Designers (and professionals in related fields) will get great gems of advice that will make them go “oh, thank goodness he said that!” because it’s so common for clients to just sit there and say “I don’t like that” without giving any real reason behind their preference. A design project (again, this can apply to other fields) is the responsibility of both the designer and the client. They have to work together.

But let me digress a little bit. One thing that struck me while reading the article was Will’s first suggestion:

"Choose your designer carefully. Look at their previous work. The best designers don’t have a “signature look.” Their sites look as different as their clients do. Awards don’t necessarily mean the design worked for the client. If you’re not sure about a design, go to sites they designed and ask their clients."

Do you agree that designers with more diverse-looking projects are better than those who maintain a signature look? On the one hand, it immediately leads a client into thinking that the designer has a wider skill set and can more easily meet their requirements especially if they’re fickle.

On the other hand, clients opt for designers with a consistent style exactly because they want to emulate that look on their own projects.

I think that in general, professionals start out not knowing exactly what they want to do, and try everything out first. As they grow older they start to specialize. As time passes, you’re supposed to be more sure of yourself and should be able to hold a distinguishable reputation among your peers. This can be said not only about the styles you create, but the skills you specialize in, the clientele you work with, and so on. I wouldn’t say this is the only way to go, but it seems to be the trend.