CSS Typography: The Basics
This is the first part of a three-part series of guides on CSS typography that will cover everything from basic syntax to best practices and tools related to CSS typography.
What I’m Reading
Shareworthy articles and content syndicated from other sites. These aren’t things I’ve written or necessarily endorse, for the record.
Android Becomes Number One in U.S. Smartphone Market Share
Today Nielsen is reporting that Google’s Android mobile operating system has beat out RIM BlackBerry and Apple iOS to become the number one mobile OS in terms of consumer market share. Android has now reached 29% market share, compared with RIM’s 27% and Apple’s 27%. However, that’s only one way to slice the pie.
Nielsen also notes that when looked at from a different angle – manufacturer market share, a way to break up the market by the handset makers’ individual takes – it’s Apple and RIM (each at 27%) who are clearly ahead. HTC is in third place using that metric, with devices running Windows Mobile/Windows Phone (7%) and Android (12%).
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This isn’t the first time headlines touting “Android is #1” have been seen recently. In January 2011, analyst firm Canalys reported that Android reached the number one spot in terms of shipments worldwide, finally displacing Nokia from its longtime throne. Competing analyst firms questioned those numbers. They said they were seeing the same overall trends, but didn’t believe Android had reached the number one position just yet.
Canalys had also previously claimed Android had reached the top position in the U.S. back in Q3 2010.
But all these numbers were tracking handset shipments, not consumer market share – that is, market share based on the phones actually purchased and used by end users. It’s yet another way to slice the market share pie.
And there’s a fourth way as well: profits. As independent mobile analyst Horace Dediu of asymco points out, with RIM and Apple, the two handset manufacturers that also make their own operating systems, “not only are the volumes higher, but so are the margins and hence the profit share.”
Android More Popular with Young Consumers
In addition to general market share numbers, Nielsen also looked at buying trends among various age groups and found that those in the younger demographic were more attracted to Android. As always, Nielsen doesn’t speculate as to why that is. But it could be something as simple as the more affordable prices of Android phones, at least in some cases. There are several mid-range to low-end Android handsets on the market that make for a decent enough “first” smartphone for feature phone/messaging phone upgraders.
Is It Possible To Block The ‘Bad Stuff’ Online Without Also Stopping The ‘Good Stuff’?
Rick Falkvinge points out that Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Carl Bildt, is defending internet censorship in a recent editorial responding to the concerns of some internet activists (Google translation of the original Swedish), who he says just don’t “understand” the internet.
Bildt’s point is that you have to ban the “bad flows” online, or else you have “anarchy.” He claims that there are limits to free speech everywhere around the world, and it’s perfectly acceptable to block certain forms of “bad” speech. The problem here is that it’s not as easy as Bildt makes it out to be to distinguish “good flows” from “bad flows.” And it’s the sort of thing that is regularly abused by governments in promoting censorship. The Chinese government, for example, regularly claims that its Great Firewall is merely protecting citizens from bad or dangerous information. The problem that many people have is that governments given the power to dictate what is a “good flow” and what is a “bad flow,” usually can’t resist the temptation to take things that they just don’t like or which weakens their own power, and designate them as “bad flows.”
As we recently noted in discussing how infrastructure for freedom often looks exactly like infrastructure for piracy, distinguishing between these two things is not so easy, and almost any attempt to stop “bad flows” runs a serious risk of massively stifling important “good” flows as well. Separately, Falkvinge highlights that Bildt and others may be confusing freedom of expression and freedom of information:
As Niklas Dougherty writes, the key problem with Mr. Bildt’s reasoning is that he is unable (or unwilling) to distinguish freedom of expression from freedom of information. Freedom of expression can indeed have some limits, though always post facto. The most famous example is that you can’t shout Fire! in a crowded theater, but there are plenty of other examples: you can’t distribute military secrets, people’s medical records, et cetera.However, the freedom of information is a different beast. This is the freedom to seek, fetch and research information and the expressions of other human beings unfettered, and has nothing to do with sending a message to any other human being. The freedom of information must be absolutely unhindered, with no exceptions. None. Not one. If you are cracking down on this, you are interfering with private correspondence and the right to partake of the ideas of others. Such behavior would also in sharp violation of the European Convention on Human Rights (article 8).
This is an important distinction, that I don’t think that many people think about or consider when discussing these ideas. So, even if you are going to segment “good” information from “bad” information, you also need to distinguish expression from information itself.
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3 ways to incorporate mobile into your business strategy
(Editor’s note: Rajesh Makhija is head of the Enterprise Market Unit at IT solutions provider MphasiS. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
The popularity of smartphones has increased exponentially—not just for personal use but in the enterprise as well. For many in today’s workforce, iPhones, Blackberries and other devices have become the de facto mode of checking and responding to email, accessing the Internet, reading industry news and even executing business processes.
It’s a paradigm shift in business, but how can you make it work for you? Here are three ways to consider:
Incorporate mobile into business process execution—Until recently, from a mobile perspective, decision making within enterprises was primarily around information received on the Blackberry. The popularity of tablets has taken the information distribution to a very different level, though, as the device’s large visual display allows for data visualization beyond just websites.
In the world of media and entertainment, for example, a film or TV executive who is away from the office can use a tablet to securely stream the latest version of a film or episode that her editing team has been working on and give feedback, saving valuable time in getting the content approved and ready for consumption. Similarly, a warehouse manager can monitor the flow of orders and determine the specific warehouse for faster order fulfillment ensuring better service and lower cost, all based on predetermined algorithms during his commute home on the train. Likewise a private investment advisor can manage her client’s account even when on the move.
Strategic companies should ensure these functionalities are top of mind when designing products, solutions or services for the enterprise.
Leveraging the evolving richness of mobile experience— Previously, websites mostly presented snapshot views of data – and visualization was limited to pre-built elements such as tables, charts, tabs and accordions. This began to change with the advent of mobile.
Early adoption of these devices came with hastily built “miniature” websites.
While these sites served their purpose, developers raised the bar when they delivered Apps with a much richer user interface, including comprehensive tools for graphics. Tablets and smartphones can now present data in a visually rich and interactive form. They can even use positional sensors such as accelerometers and gyro-meters and take users to a dimension that was simply not possible with desktops or laptops.
Putting it into action— Taking advantage of these features has significant implications on a number of business functions, including the potency of mobile marketing.
These elements can transform the user experience with the tools employed for brand recognition, namely free ringtones, wallpapers, sponsored games or other like applications. The platform offers similar benefits for lead generation, where users are asked to input information to receive discounts or coupons.
One key element of note is the growing presence of regulatory bodies attempting to govern this platform. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued guidelines covering topics such as frequency of contact and the type of message delivered. And the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) announced late last year that it is in the early stages of developing comprehensive recommendations for how companies can engage with consumers via SMS, MMS, mobile Internet, applications and more. Organizations must ensure that they are in compliance with relevant regulations as they move forward with their mobile strategy.
Prior to smartphones and tablets, users had to go to their laptops or desktops in order to participate in a business critical process. That’s different now, as the explosion of mobile has permanently altered the ways companies interact, both internally and externally.
Tags: mobile strategy
Tackling Online Menus: Tips and Examples
Restaurant websites are quite frequently disasters of both design and usability. Even good designers can go very wrong on this particularly tricky task.
Before you attempt your next restaurant website design, check out this article. We’ll go over some super practical tips for success in addition to a few pitfalls to avoid.
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A Tasty Question
Joe Elias contacted us through our Design Dilemma page and asked the following question:
“I’ve picked up a handful of restaurants over the past few weeks by referral and am stuck on one thing: displaying their menus on their websites. Sure, I could go the “toss it in a PDF” route and call it a day, but I like to stand out by making my clients stand out. Any ideas for a unique, clean way to present a standard 4 page restaurant menu?”
This is a great topic that I think lots of designers struggle with. I think Joe has some key insight here but needs some help getting started. Let’s see what we can learn from a quick look around the web at websites in this category.
Screens and Paper are Very Different Mediums
In his question, Joe mentioned the “toss it in a PDF” technique used by several websites. The basic idea here is to take your print menu, upload it as-is to the web for users to download and call it a day. Though a downloadable PDF menu is a great option to provide to users, it’s definitely not the way to go as the primary way for visitors to see your menu.
Some designers take this idea a step further and actually take the time to code an online menu that is essentially an exact replica of their printed menu. Though I applaud the attempt at consistency, this is again another very poor way to go about this task.
Designers with a background in print (like me) tend to approach web design completely wrong. The assumption is that digital design is basically the same as print so everything you know about layout, graphics, etc. still holds true. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
Print is a static, passive medium. For the most part, interaction opportunities are minimal and you have to rely mostly on graphical appeal and the strength of the layout. The web however is a completely different beast, built on the idea of rich interactivity. Clicking, scrolling and hovering are just a few of the many actions that are now available. Further, you’re no longer constrained by the size of a physical piece of paper, which opens up a million possibilities.
The point I’m trying to make is that by treating web like print, you pass up a ton of opportunities to make your design more user-friendly, attractive and engaging.
Carrabba’s Boring Italian
As an example, let’s take a look at the online menu for one of my favorite restaurants: Carrabba’s Italian Grill. This is a rather large chain in the U.S. and should have plenty of resources to build a great site. However, their menu is pretty lackluster.
The roaming navigation menu on the left is a nice touch, but otherwise it’s just a big page or boring text. Seeing this doesn’t make me hungry in the least!
Make Sure You Can Read It!
The Carrabba’s menu is definitely not all bad. In fact, it ranks really high on the list of restaurant menus I checked out! Despite being low on excitement, the Carrabba’s online menu is highly readable. Their overall site design is fairly attractive, but they don’t let the design hinder the usability of the menu. When in doubt, plain is better. I’d much rather see a static, boring menu that users can quickly glean information from than something busy and unreadable.
To see what I mean, take a look at the menu above from Twelve Restaurant. For the most part, this restaurant has a great looking site, however, they often allow the background graphic to bleed through just enough to make the text on the site difficult to read. Aesthetics are important, but remember that design is more than making things pretty! It’s about organizing and styling information in a way that is both appealing and usable.
Food Photography
The thing that really makes a restaurant menu for me is good food photography. As I said above, words don’t make me hungry, food does! If you’re lucky enough to be working for a client with awesome food photography resources, make sure you leverage them as much as possible.
Check out how photo-centric the two menus are below. You really get a sense for what you’ll be eating and the photography is good enough that just looking at it makes you hungry!
Not Every Item Needs a Photo
Even if you don’t have images of every dish, and you likely won’t, you can still pull off a beautiful menu page that leverages photography. Check out the awesome Ruby Tuesday’s menu below, which uses a unique accordion system that expands a menu section when you click on a photo.
This accordion system works great for quickly browsing the different types of food offered on the menu. Further, it gives the viewer just enough photos to get their appetite roused without going overboard.
Bad or Missing Photos?
As the restaurant web designer, you probably won’t have any control over what, if any, resources the client gives you for the project. In all honesty, the typical restaurant client won’t give you anything near the quality of what you see from California Pizza Kitchen and Ruby Tuesday. Instead, it’s likely to be either nothing or something nearly unusable.
Food photography is tricky and it takes a real professional to pull off with any success. In the case that the client gives you photos so bad that they actually hurt the chances of someone coming to the restaurant, you’ll have to find a way to convince them not to use them. Trust me, plain text is better than a page full of gag-inducing images.
In these cases, you’ll just have to make the most of a text-only layout. The menu portion of Marie Catrib’s website does a pretty decent job of this. Notice how nicely organized all the content is and how much whitespace is present between items.
In the case that you have perfectly good images, but a fairly odd collection of them, it can be difficult to figure out how to work them all into your design. The Chez Gerard menu below takes care of this problem nicely by offering hidden photos that appear when you hover over certain menu items.
Typography
Lots of restaurants want to appear refined and high-class, so the instinctive move for designers is to use lots of flowing scripts. I highly recommend avoiding a page full of script typography, it simply becomes far too difficult to read. It’s all right to use it selectively, but just keep in mind that it’s easy to go too far.
Also, it goes without saying, stay away from Comic Sans and any other fonts that your client thinks look fun. If you want your restaurant to look high-class, find a strong old style serif. If you genuinely want it to look fun, consider pulling this off through the graphics and sticking to a nice modern sans-serif for most of the type.
However, if you really want to go all out with fun fonts, you can definitely give it a shot. Many designers can pull this off with no problems whatsoever, others crash and burn immediately. One site that I think did a fairly good job is The Little Cake Parlour. Though I’m not crazy about the center-aligned column layout, the fonts used throughout this site look great together.
Social Media
Want customers to spread the word about your restaurant? Why not work in some unique social media integration? The best implementations of this I’ve seen allow visitors to share specific menu items that they like.
For instance, the Giraffe menu has a Facebook like button next to every single menu item so users can easily recommend specific dishes to their friends.
Conclusion
Online menus can be a real pain to develop. It’s difficult to organize so much information into an attractive and usable format, but I hope the tips and examples above are enough to get your project started in the right direction.
If you’ve designed any online restaurant menus lately, leave a comment below with a link so we can check them out!
Post title image taken by clspeace.