This is a small list of a few things I feel are worthy of sharing on my blog today. If you into designing web apps, like I am, or creating UX and UI, you'll find this stuff especially interesting. If you prefer to focus on graphic or web site design, then this stuff will simply expand your mind a li…
Nerdburn - Web application & graphic user interface design blog by Shawn Adrian
Web site design by Shawn Adrian & friends
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6 Things Freelance Designers Should Check out Today
Posted August 25, 2010
Complete List of Tax Increases in BC with HST
Posted July 1, 2010
Well, today is Canada day, and also the first day that the new HST takes effect in BC. If you live in BC, as I do, you're probably wondering how the new HST will affect your day to day spending. I've taken the time to create a no clutter, complete list of tax increases in BC as a result of HST. I ho…
How to Select All New Entries From Today with MySQL
Posted June 17, 2010
Yesterday I wanted to create a little stats panel for a client that would tell me how many new people had signed up that day. Then I wanted to compare that with Google Analytics unique visitors to come up with a conversion rate for the day.
The Problem
The "creation_date" field in the "users" table …
QuoteRobot Lives! Try it Free for 30 Days
Posted May 31, 2010
This is just a quick post to let everyone know that Jon and I have finally launched QuoteRobot :) The official launch date isn't until tomorrow, June 1st, but we put it up early to make sure the DNS propagates in time. If you can see the site, you can sign up and enjoy the benefits because we're giv…
Buy & Sell Used Clothing & Accessories on Exching
Posted March 16, 2010
My wife Stephanie has been working on this idea for a while - a classifieds site where women (and men theoretically) can sell their used clothing and accessories (or "pre-loved" clothing and accessories in her words). She's just learning to design, and I don't think I'm biased in saying she did a pr…
SimpleYouTube: PHP Class For Getting Video Details
Posted March 11, 2010
While writing a custom CMS for a client, I was approached with the request to enable it to accept any YouTube URL and add that video to a video gallery page on the web site. This turned out to be a lot easier than it sounds, and in this post I'm sharing the class I wrote to assist with the task.
Dow…
Time Tracking - Hassle or Help? Freckle Enlightens
Posted March 3, 2010
I have a confession to make. I've been designing web sites for almost 15 years, in a variety of capacities, and I had never once logged my actual working hours... until late December of 2009, when I met Freckle, Amy Hoy and company's latest app. Oh, I had an awareness of how long things took, of cou…
QuoteRobot: Helping Designers Create Quotes & Win Jobs
Posted January 4, 2010
My good friend Jon and I have been working over the holidays on a dream of mine I had a couple of years ago called QuoteRobot. It's a web app we're building that will help designers and coders create quotes and win jobs, and we're both pretty excited about it.
I figured I'd post about it and show a …
20 Free Handmade Buttons & UI Elements In One PSD
Posted December 29, 2009
Sometimes all it takes is seeing a single design element on a web site to inspire me on a project - that's why I've created this PSD of UI elements and buttons. Hopefully it will inspire you and give you at least one element to build future projects with. Each of the elements is in it's own Photosho…
Most People Want to Pay Monthly for Web Design
Posted October 31, 2009
As a freelance web designer, I'm always thinking of ways to smooth out the natural ups and downs of project based income. One of the ideas I've been toying with for a while is offering to build websites for a monthly cost, rather than an up front cost to the client. My research about this produced s…
Freelance Designers - How to Level Income With Ongoing Contracts
Posted October 2, 2009
As a freelance web designer, one of the trickiest skills to master is maintaining a steady flow of cash. In years past, friends used to chide me about my "feast or famine" way of life. I've learned a few things since then about keeping things steady, and have written about this subject before, but t…
My Lucky 7 List of Design People to Follow on Twitter
Posted September 26, 2009
Lately in the morning when I wake up, I've been checking Twitteriffic on my iPhone and reading everyone's updates. In the midst of a slew of personal anecdotes and random updates, there are a few people who consistently post interesting content that inspires me to get out of bed and get some work do…
Stop Complaining and Start Educating Potential Clients
Posted September 13, 2009
Lately I've been reading a lot of blog posts, rants, and articles demonizing the effects of crowdsourcing, cheap labor, spec work, and other such evils in the world; frankly, it's starting to get on my nerves a little bit. While I'm not promoting any of these practices, I'd like to shed a little lig…
5 Ways I Use Google Docs as a Freelance Web Designer
Posted April 26, 2009
I never intended to become an advocate for Google Docs, and I'll probably write web apps to accommodate my needs some day, but lately I've found myself using Google Docs every day, without ever intending to depend on it. As a freelance web designer, it's an excellent tool I use to operate my day to …
Ballpark Proves There's Room for Another Invoicing App
Posted April 11, 2009
Today I learned an interesting lesson I thought I'd write about. I signed up for Ballpark, the terrific new app from Metalab Designs in Victoria, right in my backyard, and was duly impressed. I, like many of you I'm sure, have thought about creating a new invoicing app but didn't for whatever reason…
Art vs. Design, Passion vs. Cash
Posted March 20, 2009
Over the last 3 months I've been struggling in my mind with the balance between doing what I love, and making a living as a responsible adult.
The 9 to 5 Dilemma
Back in January of 08 I joined up with the Viviti team as the only UI designer on board - it was fresh, exciting, and I told myself I'd gi…
How to Parse Google Maps Returned Address Data: A Simple jQuery Plugin
Posted February 19, 2009
Google maps makes it very easy to add a map to any page - but it's not so easy to extract meaningful address data from what Google returns. The goal of this article is to help you do three things.
Article Goals
- Send a string to Google Maps
- Parse the response Google returns
- Do something useful with …
Chubby CMS Framework, Mark Boulton & Other Friday News
Posted February 6, 2009
My eyes feel grimy, I have a coffee buzz, and my feet keep tapping to the unrelenting drum beat in my head as this week comes to a close. My task list feels monumental even though I've been steadily chipping at it all week (I'm imagining it looks a bit like the post-nuclear version of the Washington…
The 5 W's in Web Application Design: 10 Useful Questions to Answer
Posted January 28, 2009
A subject I enjoyed in high school was English. Unfortunately in my 11th year, my English class was directly after lunch break and I enjoyed being outside with my friends more than I did being in school. During one of those times that I actually attended the class there was an interesting discussion…
Tactful Error Messages in Web Application Design
Posted January 22, 2009
In my previous article, I touched on the idea that users of web applications perceive error messages as direct communication from the developer or proprietors of the site in use, and that these messages are an extension of an ongoing brand conversation that exists. I also briefly mentioned the need …
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About The Author
Shawn is a 29 year old freelance designer in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Check out his other project QuoteRobot:
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Nerdburn - Web application & graphic user interface design blog by Shawn Adrian
Tweets
- want to wow your clients with SEO knowledge? run their site through http://www.pearanalytics.com/ and look like an expert! @pearanalytics
- this tool is super useful if you're storing dates as unix timestamps in your database - http://www.epochconverter.com/
- part of a golf group or club? follow @golfgroupmgr for updates on exciting startup - http://golfgroupmanager.com - golfers please RT
Friends
Here are some links to people I work with and respect:
_input (Nanaimo Web Design)
Blossom Effect (my wife)
Geek For Brains
Pooshda
Aunfin
Niklas Industries
Hail To The Heat
Null Creations
Nathan Crause
Overmind Productions
Web Design London
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