Inside the Fold

Last week I began reading “Web Form Design” by Luke Wroblewski and I haven’t really put it down. It’s a thriller with great examples and well thought out and tested practices.

Everyone has had both the good, bad and ugly form experience. As a front end designer and developer I have had the pleasure of taking the shopping cart on Chroniclebooks.com site from painful to fluid and usable.

I spend the majority of my time on the computer and surfing the web. Hours come and go but when I have decided to make a purchase and it takes longer than 2 minutes I feel frustrated and I usually abandon the sale.

One of the motivations behind this site and, “Yes I will eventually explain the name,” is to share with the community my trail and vision for where I came from and where I want to go.

Not long ago I was a back country ranger setting rock steps and chopping blowdowns in the White Mountain National Forest. My challenges were something like this, “This section of trail has some major blowouts and really bad water erosion, the closest rocks I found to make steps to stabilize the soil are 250 feet away.

I am by myself and I have to figure out a way to get the stone from point A to B without killing myself or other hikers…oh yeah what’s for dinner.”

Now I design with pixels, key strokes and I still hunt for good stones! I am constantly foraging, looking around and reading. And I want to share this with you. I learned so much about design and about making design happen from mentors who shared with me. I want to do the same, especially for people who are just getting started.

So here is a list of links and ideas for you to take flight: